Tower Talks with Inside Towers

Join Inside Towers Managing Editor Jim Fryer in this third installment of “Tower Masters”. This series focuses on the men and women who, for decades, have not only survived, but thrived as independent operators in the wireless infrastructure field. 

Inside Towers talks with longtime developer in the wireless infrastructure space, Jimmy Chiles. Although Chiles is now an Operating Partner with Digital Bridge, his career spans the gamut from 600-site towerco owner to founding and developing several fiber and data center operations. 

Chiles began his career in the late ‘70’s with Motorola and went on to found Netlink, a facilities based 850 MHz CMRS operator which he sold to Sprint in 1999. He then started TPI, a provider of metro fiber and enterprise data centers he later sold to ExteNet Systems. Next was his towerco venture, Broadcast Towers, which sold to Global Signal (now Crown Castle). Following that, Chiles founded Aspen Communications, an ethernet based metro fiber business in Dallas, then Alpheus, a provider of metro fiber and enterprise data centers. Most recently, prior to joining DigitalBridge, Chiles was an Executive VP with ExteNet. (Whew!)

Listen in on this lively half-hour discussion between two long-time acquaintances in the industry as they cover the myriad of issues facing the tower sector. 

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This is your Inside Towers Weekly Recap for the week of August 8, 2021. For more wireless infrastructure news, subscribe to our newsletter here. 

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Do you know what it really takes to build wireless and wireline networks?

Bringing together equipment and workers, whether installing fiber optic systems on the ground or activating cell sites on towers, must be well choreographed to meet installation deadlines and service delivery schedules

We see videos of tower climbers in their safety harnesses and helmets high up on structures. But in fact, it’s when they get to that height the real work begins – everything from assembling steel structures to installing and testing RF, fiber, and power systems.

Craig Snyder, Founder and CEO of VIKOR Teleconstruction (he’s climbed 2,000 feet!) talks with John Celentano, Inside Towers Business Editor about the intricacies of constructing the network infrastructure that makes wireless work.

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This is your Inside Towers Weekly Recap for the week of August 2, 2021. For more wireless infrastructure news, subscribe to our newsletter here. 

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The telecommunications industry is in a high cycle of demand for broadband infrastructure. 5G network builds, fixed wireless access deployments, fiber to the home, and digital divide solutions are all happening at the same time.

In this environment, questions often come up about the capability of the supply chain. Is there adequate equipment inventory, or are there shortages that will create long delivery times? How will installations and new service activation be affected?

There are misunderstandings about how the supply chain works, the companies involved, and the important role they play in enabling broadband deployments.

John Celentano, Inside Towers Business Editor discusses the wireless supply chain role and challenges with Chris Pleibel, Vice President-Infrastructure and Scott Stekr, Vice President-U.S. Engineering at PerfectVision.

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This is your Inside Towers Weekly Recap for the week of July 26, 2021. For more wireless infrastructure news, subscribe to our newsletter here. 

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This is your Inside Towers Weekly Recap for the week of July 19, 2021. For more wireless infrastructure news, subscribe to our newsletter here. 

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As wireless service providers deploy more frequency bands on towers, the incidence for interference increases dramatically.

While we refer to interference from radios at other cell sites as active interference, signals reflected from RF transmissions within a tower site create harmonics that are equally of concern. This type of RF interference is referred to as passive intermodulation interference or simply, PIM. PIM can originate from poor or worn cable connectors at radios or antennas.

We are finding now that PIM also can be produced from what we call “non-RF sources” such as mechanical or structural elements on or around the tower.

Chris Stockman, Product Line Manager, CommScope discusses with John Celentano, Inside Towers Business Editor the various sources of non-RF PIM and how to mitigate this type of interference problem. 

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This is your Inside Towers Weekly Recap for the week of July 12, 2021. For more wireless infrastructure news, subscribe to our newsletter here. 

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Rural connectivity remains a hot topic.

Tens of millions of Americans in underserved or unserved live without quality broadband service.

Certainly, the pandemic amplified the need for reliable broadband connections, especially in small towns and rural communities.

Much government funding for rural broadband has gone towards fiber cable solutions deployed over long distances to serve relatively few customers. Yet cost-effective wireless solutions often have limited capabilities.

Is 5G a viable alternative to fiber for reliable broadband connections? What are the infrastructure challenges for deploying 5G in these markets? And what are the related process challenges for acquiring sites, obtaining municipal approvals, and building the sites?

John Celentano, Inside Towers Business Editor discusses these important rural connectivity challenges with Edwige Robinson, T-Mobile Senior Vice President, Central Region, Network Engineering & Operations, and Rodney Carter and Michael Long, Attorneys and Team leaders in the Telecom Law Practice at Husch Blackwell.

Learn about T-Mobile’s home internet service: 

https://www.t-mobile.com/isp

For information about Husch Blackwell’s Telecom Law Practice: https://www.huschblackwell.com/industries_services/Telecommunications 

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